Green
by QAI521
Summary: Taylor and her mother had always had a bit of a green thumb. Someone took notice.
1. Seed

**In which Taylor and her mother had a bit more of a green thumb, and someone else took notice.**

 **Special thanks to** Commissar Carnifex **for taking the time to beta this chapter.**

 **Enjoy!**

Seed

Taylor Hebert quailed as the bunker shook as if it were being struck with the wrath of an angry god. Flecks of dust and dirt fell from the ceiling as the underground structure was pushed to its limits. The sound of steel twisting and tearing echoed through the crowded room, even despite the panicked clamor coming from the crowd.

Taylor wrapped her arms around her legs as she tried to fend off a panic attack as a few nearby children screamed in terror. Tears ran down her face as the building quaked, even more, patches of concrete crumbling from the wall like a bad sandcastle. There was only one thing in the world that could get through walls that thick, and it was standing right outside.

An _Endbringer_.

Taylor had always heard about them growing up, monstrous creatures that devastated entire cities or even worse, twisted them into monsters to serve its own malignant goals. They were monsters on a scale that the human mind could scarcely imagine. But they had always seemed like a distant thing to Taylor, like commenting on a volcanic eruption on the other side of the world. She didn't want to seem callous, but it wasn't her problem. They had never directly affected her in the way they had changed places like Japan. The closest an Endbringer had ever come to Brockton Bay had been Behemoth's attack on New York.

But now they were here. Leviathan, the sunderer of nations, the one who on occasion would sink landmasses into the sea for what she could only assume was a twisted sense of amusement. He was attacking Brockton Bay right now and all she could do was hope that the heroes would drive him off before he killed them all.

She didn't even know where her dad was, the sirens having gone off while she had been at school and he was at work. Hopefully, he had made it into another bunker, but all she could do was hope and pray that he would remain alive. She couldn't lose him like she had lost Mom. He was the only person that she had left thanks to Emma's betrayal. She wasn't sure how she would be able to live if he died. She wasn't sure how _he_ would live if she died. They had both been broken after Mom's death, but now…

Taylor's thoughts cut off into a scream as part of the ceiling collapsed in on itself, killing a few unlucky individuals who had been standing underneath. Blood and viscera splattered against the concrete, but as morbid as that was, everyone seemed more concerned with the torrent of cold water flowing through the hole. Taylor scrambled to her feet as the cold and salty water swept up to her feet. All around her she could see the other panicking, throwing themselves against the wall in a desperate attempt to escape A few were trying to rip the door open, but the hydraulic seal refused to move.

This room was going to become their tomb.

Taylor could feel her breath quicken as she stared around at the room around her. The noise can clamor of the panicked screams became a distant thing as the sound of her heartbeat hit her ears. Her skin felt soft and clammy as the water climbed up her legs.

"I'm scared," was all that the teen could utter, her voice soft and weak and inaudible over the screams. A sharp crack echoed through the chamber and Taylor looked up in time to see another chunk of the ceiling break away and fall down on top of her, crushing her skull and body.

She died instantly.

* * *

 _She is to be our champion? She is weak and frail._

 _She can learn. She must learn._

 _We have no time for this weakness. Our actions must be swift._

 _Who would you have as our Champion? We must have someone._

 _Leave her to the_ _ **Rot**_ _. Let us choose another._

 _We have deliberated long and hard, but we can deliberate no longer. We are old and ancient and patient, but we cannot afford to be patient now. Our time grows near. We must act against the Abominations or the_ _ **Rot**_ _will see us dead._

 _…_

 _She_ _ **must**_ _be the one. Or all that we have done will be for naught._

 _You would set the future of the Green in the hands of a human? She knows nothing of us._

 _We will teach her. Or there will be no Green left at all._

 _…_

 _Very well._

 _Has a consensus been reached?_

 _… Yes. For now._

 _We are in agreement._

 _As am I._

 _Very well, begin the transfer._

* * *

Taylor was certain that she had died. One didn't take a chunk of concrete that was larger than they were to the head and walk away unscathed. Unless they were a Brute of course, but that was entirely beside the point.

The point was that she was pretty sure that she should be dead, not standing in the middle of a small meadow. The green grass stretched along the ground as far as the eye could see, only becoming obscured from view by the ring of trees that surrounded her. She could recognize some of the species that she had seen dotted around Brockton Bay, but there were quite a few that she couldn't.

"Hello," she called out tentatively, hoping for a response. The sound of the birds and other animals that would inhabit a place like this were totally absent, and there was nothing to indicate there were any humans here beside her. Even the air seemed fresher than what she was used to, with none of the pollutants that had become common place around the world.

 _Taylor Hebert…_

"Who's there?" Taylor cried out, nearly jumping a foot in the air at the sound of the unexpected voice. As her panicked eyes whirled around the grove, she found nothing that indicated where the voice might have come from.

 _Do not fear. No harm shall come to you here_ , another voice called out, softer and gentler than the previous speaker. It reminded her of the tones that Mom would use to calm her down when she was panicked or afraid, but all that comparison did was make her heart feel as if it were being squeezed by a vice.

"Who are you?" she asked. It was taking everything she had not to start screaming in panic.

 _We are the Green,_ a symphony of voices answered back as the trees and plants around her started to twist. Taylor's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she found dozens of trees staring at her with what she could only describe as faces. They were far from recognizable as their human counterparts, but there was no mistaking those mouths and eyes.

"W-what?" Taylor asked, more than a little confused. "What's the Green? Are you some sort of parahuman group?"

If they were a parahuman group that might explain a few things while presenting a dozen other questions. In response to her question, the sound of soft chuckles reached her ears, and she turned around to see one of the trees shaking as if it were having a fit of laughter.

 _We are no more parahumans than you are an insect,_ the laughing voice answered back, the amusement plain as day. Taylor flushed a bit in anger and embarrassment at the chastising voice. It reminded her a little too much of Winslow for her comfort.

 _We are the culmination of all plants that live in this world. Every tree, every brush, every speck of grass. We are all of the Green,_ the gentler voice called out with the same patience that a teacher might have with dealing with a particularly troubling student.

"Uh-huh," Taylor said with a skeptical nod. She had heard about a few parahumans who thought themselves gods or prophets of greater beings, like that cult that worshiped the Endbringers as deities. Taylor shivered at the reminder of the cold water pouring down the hole ready to engulf them all in an icy tomb…

 _Peace young one,_ another voice called out, this one as ancient as the ground beneath her feet. Taylor had remembered a time that a veteran had visited her middle school to talk to them. He hadn't been much to look at with his almost feeble form but his voice carried with it a weight that made you want to listen. Every word underlined with a knowledge that he had done and seen more in his life that you could possibly imagine.

That was what this new voice brought to her mind as she turned towards the direction it was coming from. A few trees parted away to let her gaze upon what she could only assume was the source of the voice. And if they voice sounded ancient, the tree before her looked ten times that age.

Twisted roots dug into the ground like a jigsaw puzzle, gnarly knots of lost branches dotted all along the tree's form. It was so old that it looked as though it had lost its original color, with only a few patches of brown surviving in the sea of pale white. Branches that could have engulfed an Endbringer with room to spare stretched out from its trunk. Whatever this thing was it was _old._ Older than her and everything that she had ever known.

 _I am Yggdrasil,_ the tree said, its branches slightly swaying in the air as they seemed to stretch out. _And we are the Parliament of Trees._

"Parliament of Trees?" Taylor asked, tilting her head in confusion. She wasn't quite over her skepticism, but there was something about this tree that made her want to sit and listen. And the fact that she was talking to a _tree_ hadn't quite processed to her mind yet, which was why she wasn't running away screaming like any rational person might.

 _We serve to act in the interests of the Green, the elemental force that connects all plant life to each other,_ Yggdrasil explained, though Taylor's head was still spinning. _We have sought you out to be our Champion._

"Champion," Taylor squeaked nervously. "W-what do you mean?"

 _The Green has been…damaged by the Abominations, those that you refer to as Endbringers, both directly and indirectly,_ Yggdrasil explained in a factual way that did little to ease Taylor's nerves. She knew that Endbringers killed millions, but to come to realize that they were so damaging that what she supposed was supposed to be the closest thing to Mother Nature itself was being hurt…

 _They threaten the balance of the world, and in turn grant power to the_ _ **Black**_ _. If their destruction is not halted, all will fall into the_ _ **Rot**_ _._

"The rot?" Taylor asked, dreading the answer. The trees around her seemed to almost shuffle and twist away as if she had just brought up some strange taboo. She turned her gaze back to Yggdrasil looking for answers. Despite having a face that was literally carved from wood, he looked tired, frightened, and weak. The sheer presence of the tree seemed to shrink in on itself.

 _The_ _ **Black**_ _, the_ _ **Rot**_ _, the names of the great enemy. The one that would seek to destroy all we have built and plunge the world into death and decay,_ Yggdrasil said, his voice tired and empty. It reminded her of Dad's voice on some of his bad days, the sheer weight of the world bearing down on his shoulders to crush the life out of him.

"Why me?" Taylor asked, trying to draw her focus away from the answer that the tree had just given her. Because quite frankly that explanation was terrifying beyond belief. To know that there was a force that was actively seeking to end the world as she knew it chilled her to the bones. Parahumans like Nilbog might be a threat if they went all out, but they were content to stay in place, in their own little world. Even Endbringers only destroyed one city at a time, with exceptions like Newfoundland.

"Why not chose someone else? I'm not special," Taylor said meekly. She was just a loser without friends. What could she possibly do that anyone else couldn't?

 _She is weak, worthless. She has allowed weeds to take her roots,_ a voice hissed from the background. Taylor couldn't help but flinch at how familiar the voice sounded, of poisonous laughter and cruel smiles. The teenager turned to see a young-looking tree twist in a way that somehow managed to convey that it was angry. _She has no future as our Champion. Let us choose one who is strong!_

 _Strength can be earned. Compassion less so,_ Yggdrasil said calmly, though there was a hint of chiding anger in his voice that made the other tree wilt. _She has nourished the Green before. She will do so again._

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Taylor asked, completely bewildered. She had never known that this...Green had ever existed before. She tried not to flinch as a branch extended from the trunk of the aged and ancient tree. It was so old that she could practically hear the weight of time behind each creak as the branch extended until it tapped her forehead. Taylor gasped as memories of tending her house's garden alongside Mom flashed before her. They were so quick that she couldn't pin anyone of them down, but she could feel the love and passion that had been put into each memory.

Taylor heaved great mouthfuls of air as she tried to regain her bearings. She could feel hot tears running down her face as she struggled to say something, to say _anything_. "You want me to help because I planted a garden?" she managed to get out through her quiet sobs, somewhat overwhelmed by the memories of her time with her long-gone mother.

 _You care for the garden,_ Yggdrasil said not quite a question and not quite a statement.

"Y-yeah, Mom and I worked on it all the time," she said, swallowing nervously. It had been their little project, their mother and daughter time, separate from the horrors of the world around them. There had been no talk about the gangs or Endbringers during that time, only the careful care of their plants. Even after Mom died she had kept the garden going, not wishing to see something that had been so desperately loved fall into disarray.

 _Then you are the one Taylor Hebert,_ Yggdrasil said with a tone of certainty that made her stand up tall and firm like the great tree before her. _Will you be our Champion? Will you beat back the Abominations and the Rot and all that would destroy the Green?_

Taylor paused as her eyes flickered around the room. She could feel the desperation coming from each tree, each blade of grass. This group was beyond desperate for someone to save them and they were looking to _her?_

That niggling little voice that sounded so much like Emma whispered back that she wasn't worth it, that this was all a trick. But Taylor cast those thoughts aside. She had felt this desperation before whenever she visited Dad's work. She knew what it was like to stare into the eyes of someone who didn't know if they would have food on their plate in the morning, or who were concerned for their lives. That wasn't something that you could fake. Could she really turn her back on those in need? She knew what it was like to be forgotten and hated and defenseless. What it was like to hope so desperately for salvation and only to find cruelty.

"I'll do it," Taylor said, her voice barely above a whisper. She turned her gaze back towards Yggdrasil and stared the towering tree down. "I'll do it. I'll become your champion."

* * *

Armsmaster tried to ignore the sheer burning sensation of his arm, or rather, what was left of his arm. A bloody stump was all that remained, and even with painkillers it still felt like a thousand railroad spikes being shoved into his socket. He knew that he was better off than some of the other combatants, but that still didn't ease the painful sting of defeat.

His prediction software had worked as planned, allowing the combatants to box Leviathan in so that he could deploy his nano-thorn blade. It had been working right up until the Endbringer decided he was bored and ripped the Tinker's arm off. Every bit of elation that he had felt for managing to fight the Endbringer had washed down the drain in an instant once he realized that he had been toyed with.

But the Tinker bit back his rage and pain as he tried to find Leviathan. Even with a lost arm he still had a pair of eyes that could help. The Endbringer had managed to vanish from view, but even without his prediction software, Armsmaster had an idea of where the beast was going.

As he rounded a corner he felt the pit of dread that had been building in his stomach well up like a volcano. His throat went dry as a desert as he watched the Endbringer casually demolish thousands of pounds of steel and concrete in an effort to reach the defenseless civilians trapped inside.

Even as he reached for his armband he knew it was too late. Even if the Triumvirate could get there in the next ten seconds there was nothing that they would be able to do to stop the Endbringer from killing everyone inside. The water swirling around Leviathan's feet bulge as the beast prepared to turn their shelter into a watery tomb.

But just as the wave of blue was about to drain down the open hole torn by the Endbringer's impossibly sharp talons, a pillar of green shot out from the hole, striking the monster in the chest. Armsmaster could only gape in surprise as the Endbringer was sent flying back, slamming into a pair of buildings and burying itself in the rubble. It was all the more disheartening as Leviathan pulled itself from the wreckage within seconds, brushing off steel beams larger than he was off like raindrops. Even though the monster didn't have any facial expressions, the Tinker could see its eyes glow just a little bit brighter with what he could only assume was anger.

He turned his gaze over towards the tower of green that had erupted from the hole in the shelter. Now that he had a slightly clearer view of it, he could see that it was actually a collection of plants wrapped together tightly. The huge vine-like structure seemed to twist in the air before slamming into the cracked road. Armsmaster could only watch as the vine started to change shape into something more humanoid. Legs thicker than tree trunks rose from the Earth as equally massive arms erupted from its torso. Hands large enough to throw trucks like toys clenched into fists. Eyes the size of his head glowed with a fiery red light even as an assortment of vines and branches formed a face with a very angry expression.

But even as the giant's body formed greener was moving behind it. A crisscross of vines and branches sealing the hole that Leviathan had punched through the shelter. Even more plants erupted through the asphalt road and Armsmaster watched as the water that Leviathan had brought from the sea be soaked up into their masses. It was hardly quick, but there was a noticeable difference in the water level as the plants started to swell up like water balloons.

Snapping himself out of his stupor, Armsmaster turned back to his armband, thankful that Dragon had put recently added a vocal override command in addition to the two buttons. "Armsmaster to all points, Leviathan is at shelter seven! I repeated, Leviathan is at—"

"Leviathan," the giant, who was now as tall as the Endbringer if not taller, said with a surprisingly feminine voice. Armsmaster could feel his teeth rattle with the sheer force of the words as the plant giant glared the Endbringer down. There was a rage in those eyes that Armsmaster had seen in many times in his life. It was the anger of one who had spent their entire lives being crushed underneath a boot finally being given an opportunity to fight back. It was the fury of a fresh Trigger.

It made him want to curse.

This wasn't the type of person that would listen to orders to fall back or disengage, they would strike at the Endbringer with everything that they had. They wouldn't listen to strategy or logic, but instead, try to pummel the monster into submission like so many had tried and failed to do so before. Having someone who was capable of throwing an Endbringer back would certainly be a boon, but they didn't have time for the new Trigger to acquaint themselves with her powers. In the end, her refusal to listen to orders would get her killed like so many had before. But he could see that she wasn't going to back down, not even if Scion himself descended from the heavens.

"The Green would have _words_ with you," she spoke as Leviathan rose up to charge. Armsmaster could hear the echoes of confirmation on his armband as other parahumans rushed to the scene, but they would never get here before the new Trigger was torn to shreds. Leviathan moved, becoming naught but a blur, but as Armsmaster braced himself for the parahuman's screams of pain the world around him exploded and all he saw was green.

* * *

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	2. Sprout

**Thanks to Commissar Carnifex and The Sleeping Knight for betaing.**

 **Enjoy!**

Sprout

She could feel everything.

Every tree bending in the breeze, every flower basking in the sun, every blade of grass poking through the asphalt. It was if as if she had been blind her whole life and had just been given sight. Feelings and experiences that she wasn't even sure there were words for flowed across her mind as she reached out to the plant life around her, tugging on it as easily as one might use a limb.

It was _amazing._

But as joyful as the experience of being connected to all plant life on Earth, she didn't have the time to sit back and enjoy the experience.

She had an Endbringer to deal with.

She hadn't understood why the Green had referred to him as an Abomination, but now she could. There was something off and wrong with the Endbringer on a level she couldn't quite understand. She could feel the water in her plants twisting and turning as the best tried to assert his dominance and she could feel the twisted power at work, subsuming the very world and eroding the natural order. The waves of water that followed him were similarly twisted and consumed by his power, the blue glow of the Clear gone and faded.

The Endbringers weren't just killing humanity, they were killing the planet.

Leviathan blurred forward with a burst of speed, his malevolent eyes burning with the desire to see her and this city dead and at the bottom of the ocean. The Endbringer didn't get more than a few steps before she pulled on her power and the ground beneath him exploded. Vines that could have crushed a tank burst from the ground and asphalt and wrapped themselves around the monster's form.

"There will be no more deaths on this day," she said, her voice echoing through the torrent of rainwater as the Abomination failed in the air impotently. She twisted her now massive hand as the vines followed in kind, tightening their hold against the Endbringer's mockery of flesh. But instead of being crushed into powder like anything else would have been, the monster pulled back, using its long tail to tear away at the vines like a demented weed whacker.

What few vines remained intact proved ineffectual at holding him in place as a coat of water covered his already slippery skin, providing him with enough wiggle room to escape his ensnarement. Taylor tried to keep track of him, but trying to make out his speeding form through the thick torrent of rain proved to be all but impossible.

Taylor shuddered as something struck her form with a sharp crack, and when she looked down she found her right arm missing, cut off at the elbow. Her first reaction at seeing her severed limb was shock and then a bubbling panic that filled the pits of her stomach. But before she could even utter her first scream a gentle pressure came to her awareness in the back of her mind.

 _Calm yourself, child._

 _Yggdrasil?_ She thought back with no small amount of surprise. It was enough for her to keep her immediate instinct to scream in panic in check long enough to realize that her arm wasn't hurting like it should have been. She was hardly an expert in getting limbs torn off, but she imagined that it would hurt a lot more than this.

 _Yes. We lend you our strength and knowledge for a time child. Do not fear this wound, for you are one with the Green. So long as it lives, so do you._

 _Alright, that means that Leviathan can't kill me. Good,_ Taylor thought with a slight snort as she focused on her missing arm. She pushed and watched as the limb began to repair itself, vines and branches twisting around each other to form a facsimile of a human arm and hand. Within seconds the previous grievous damage that Leviathan had inflicted upon her was gone, erased as if it had never happened.

Cool _._

She didn't even need to turn around to know where the rest of her arm was. She could feel its presence behind her, still pulsating with her power. She turned her gaze behind her to see Leviathan looming over the severed limb as if it was some kind of trophy. His tail flickered through the rain as his sharp claws tore up the street with all the concern a child would give a cobweb. Though she did have to wonder what the monster's plan was, it wasn't as if he could…

 _Beneath us, child!_

Taylor turned the brunt of her attention to the network of roots crisscrossing through the dirt just in time to feel the wave of water coming up from underneath. The earth crumbled like wet paper as the asphalt around her started to crack from a combination of her sheer weight and the lack of support beneath her.

"Get back!" she shouted, her voice bellowing over the howling gale to the ground-based capes rushing to join the fight. She didn't get a chance to see if they had heeded her warning as the ground beneath her finally gave way and collapsed. If she hadn't been in her new gigantic form it would have been quite the fall, twenty feet or so. She would have surely died from it, if not from that then from the torrent of water flowing outwards from the hole like a twisted wellspring. As it was all she felt was a brief sensation of weightlessness before her feet hit the ground beneath the street, crushing rubble into a fine grain.

She was fine, but the bunker that she had just saved from drowning mere seconds ago was less so. The foundations underneath the structure eroded to almost nothing, and the shelter started to collapse in on itself with the crushing weight of the water surrounding it like a bubble.

 _No!_ Taylor screamed in her mind as she reached out to the plants inside. Building off what she had built to prevent their drowning she had her plants tunnel through the concrete, wrapping themselves around steel and forming walls to protect the panicking people inside. She could feel the bunker shifting as she pushed it up and out of the ground with all that she had.

As she did that, she turned a portion of her attention towards the severed limb, still underneath Leviathan's feet. He remained motionless, staring at her form as she struggled to save the trapped people. She had to wonder if this was all some sick game to him. There was no reason for him to try and kill those people other than sheer spite for her thwarting his attempted massacre. After a moment more he turned around, almost seemingly dismissing her as a threat as he turned to the wave of capes in the sky.

Taylor snarled at the sheer dismissive arrogance of the abomination. The severed limb beneath him exploded into action, vines and branches twisting up to wrap around his legs. She pushed as much effort into their growth as she could, watching as green started to cover his legs like a second skin, roots digging into his flesh only to find nothing to feed off of. There was nothing about Leviathan's mass that could be useful or beneficial to the environment. She wasn't even sure if it was capable of degrading. Its only use was to serve as the Endbringer's body and nothing else.

 _The Abominations have no place in this world,_ Yggdrasil's voice echoed through her head, a tint of anger coloring his words. Taylor grunted in agreement as she tried to force the roots go on in deeper, but it appeared that they had reached the end of what they could do. Every attempt to push a little further into the beast's mass only proved to be futile. It was simply too dense, and judging by the almost casual way Leviathan swept off the green like a swarm of flies he barely noticed it.

But it stalled his advance long enough for the first cape to reach him. There was an audible crack as Alexandria slammed into the monster's skull, knocking him to the ground. The Brute was joined by a swarm of Blasters, each one firing as fast as they could into the monster's torso. Plumes of dust and smoke rose up from the impact site, clouding their vision of the monster. But Taylor could still hear the song of the Green that covered Leviathan as he dove beneath the street. Even as Alexandria rose up from the blinding cloud of smoke Taylor realized what Leviathan was doing.

"He's undergroun—"

Even with full knowledge of were the Endbringer was, Taylor found herself startled by the sheer speed the monster possessed as it erupted in front of her like a demented jack in the box. There was no time for her to even react as claws the size of trucks slammed into her chest. Taylor was forced to lean back as the full weight of the beast was set upon her, but even as she moved to wrap it in a bear hug it had other ideas.

Using its crouched position on her torso as a staging point, Leviathan _pushed_ off her chest and twisted in the air as its almost gangly looking limbs swept out towards the flying capes. They didn't even have time to understand what was happening as they were batted aside like gnats. Most splattered against his claws in explosions of gore while others like Alexandria were sent crashing into the ground. As Taylor righted herself Leviathan's deceptively thin tail slammed into her neck, slicing vines and bark like a woodsman's ax. Panic squeezed her heart like a vice as she reflexively reached up to protect her exposed throat.

 _Calm yourself, child,_ Yggdrasil's calm and cool voice prevented her from descending into a blind panic as she realized that she wasn't actually dying. _Remember, this body is an extension of your will. No harm done to it by anything but the_ _ **Rot**_ _will harm you._

 _Oh, right,_ Taylor recalled once she realized that she wasn't twitching on the ground. She could already feel the parts that made up her working to heal the damage, but the sheer natural reaction of finding the neck severed was a primal part of the human mind. Not something that she would be used to getting over soon. But that lingering dread of death still ate away at her mind as she took a moment to look over the landscape. Leviathan had already cut an impressive swathe of destruction through the city, and bodies were piling up. Blood mixed in with the freezing saltwater as it drained out of the easiest exits without Leviathan's will to say otherwise.

It was a level of carnage that Taylor had never witnessed before, and just thinking about all of the bodies and lives shattered in these last few minutes wanted to make her throw up. How could anyone deal with having to see this day in or day out?

 _Steel yourself, child. The time for your mourning may come later. The Abomination still fights. Do not allow the sacrifice of your brethren to be in vain,_ Yggdrasil said with the sternness of a drill instructor. With great difficulty, Taylor managed to push aside the sickening, churning feeling in her gut and turned her attention back towards the fight…

…only to realize that it was gone.

 _Where'd Leviathan go?_

* * *

"Does anyone have eyes on Leviathan?" Legend shouted through his armband as the wind around him howled with a fury normally reserved for hurricanes. The rain fell from the sky with such thickness that even with his near perfect vision he could barely make out the street below him, much less the dozens of capes trying to spot the missing Endbringer.

Someone who had never fought the monsters before might have scoffed at the idea that something _that_ big could just disappear. Those were the people who usually died in the first five minutes. Legend held no such belief, he knew all too well that even the lumbering Behemoth could hide from view for a few moments and then erupt from the ground like a volcano in the middle of a group of packed defenders.

The negative replies he got back as the armband's radio exploded with chatter from every point in the city was worrisome. Endbringers didn't just vanish unless they had a plan of some sort. They tended to go after places where they could inflict the most damage possible. They had already dodged a bullet with his attack on the shelter thanks to that newly triggered cape. If that cape lived through this he was going to make sure they got a commendation for their bravery. It was terrifying enough fighting an Endbringer as an experienced cape, he couldn't even begin to imagine what it was like for someone fresh off their trigger event.

Legend pursed his lips in thought as the last negative answer crackled across the radio, and it was in that moment that the Endbringer struck. Below him, a building's front exploded in a show of brick and wood as Leviathan erupted forth like an angry god. The capes on the street below didn't even realize what was happening to them as the monster trampled over them with its clawed feet and swept the rest away in a deluge.

 _Iron Monkey deceased, BC-4. Hookwolf deceased, BC-4. Pathfinder deceased, BC-4._

"Open fire!" Legend roared as he let loose the full extent of his power. A solid beam of pure white that could have leveled a building with the right direction slammed into the Endbringer's chest as every other Blaster in the area joined in the barrage. But even with enough firepower to shatter a tank battalion Leviathan was undaunted, charging down the street with the speed of a torpedo. Blood and entrails mixed in with the wall of water following the beast, painting the streets and buildings crimson red. It was an utterly sickening sight to bear witness to as the defenders on the ground tried to get out of the way, but they were akin to snails trying to outrace a landslide.

Leviathan was just too fast.

Even as Legend prepared to steel himself against the imminent loss the ground in front of Leviathan exploded as something shot out from the depths. For a brief moment, Legend could almost imagine Leviathan's malevolent eyes budging out of their sockets as a massive tree struck it in the chest. Bark snapped and groaned as it resisted the seemingly unrelenting momentum of the Endbringer. The retreating defenders held their breath as the monster struggled to move forward even as branches as thick a telephone poles wrapped around its torso.

"Hit him!" a voice bellowed out through the sleet like rain and the thunderous roar of the ocean. Turning towards the voice Legend found himself staring at the same green juggernaut that had thwarted the Endbringer earlier, an intense look of concentration on his face as his arms dug into the ground. Legend didn't even bother repeating the order as he opened fire on the restrained Leviathan. Within seconds more parahuman's joined in, flashing of sunlight melting flesh even as iron spikes were driven into the beast's hide. Even more green erupted from beneath the earth, twisting through the concrete and asphalt as if they had minds of their own, wrapping around Leviathan's clawed feet.

But even despite all of that, Leviathan was still stuck in a standstill as the tree groaned under the immense pressure being placed on it.

But the stalemate was abruptly ended as another tree shot out from the ground, this time directly beneath the beast. Legend could only watch as the Endbringer was raised up into the air by the massive plant, even as it struggled with all its might. The tree's trunk, which was thicker than most skyscrapers, shuddered and trembled as the monster tore at its prison with a primal fury. It almost looked as if it would stretch into the storm itself before wood finally gave way to water.

With a thunderous crack, the branches restraining Leviathan snapped and the Endbringer leaped off the towering tree in total freefall. But instead of panicking like any rational being might, Leviathan compressed its already lithe form as close together as it could, turning its entire body into a living torpedo. The air around the monster _screamed_ as it hurled itself at near supersonic speeds towards the cape that had inconvenienced it so. Legend caught a brief glimpse of the giant plant man's red eyes widening in surprise before it was slammed into the ground by the multi-ton beast. The ground shattered beneath them like glass as the Endbringer tore into the cape's body, tearing chunks out with claws sharp enough to rend steel with ease.

"Open fire!" Legend said, his voice screaming over the radio as he brought his power to bear against the monster's exposed back. Every cape that could bring a long-range power to bear joined in, pummeling the Endbringer's backside. Legend pushed aside a pang of guilt as a blast missed the beast and struck the cape instead. He couldn't afford to let the life of one cape, no matter how freshly triggered, get in the way of stopping Leviathan. They would understand.

It was a lie he told himself often enough he almost believed it.

The cape struggled against the Endbringer's attack, plants rising up to lash out at the beast. Black ichor oozed out of numerous wounds even as one of its glowing eyes exploded, but it remained undaunted. The cape just couldn't seem to get enough leverage to throw the monster off. Legend winced as Leviathan raised one of its massive claws in what he assumed was an attempt to finish the cape off when a bone-chilling howl echoed through the streets. It drowned out the howling winds and roaring rain, and Legend felt the primordial fight and flight response buried in the back of his mind urge him to run away from the predator at the doorstep.

Leviathan turned towards the sound with an almost curious look in its soulless eyes before something slammed into its side.

The Endbringer was sent flying back into a building and Legend got a good look at the cape's rescuer. A pair of golden eyes the size of his head glared at the Endbringer as its lips drew back into a low growl revealing fangs that could have used trucks as chew toys. The street cracked under the weight of its clawed feet, as it cautiously approached its recovering prey. Muscles that were bigger than most people tensed underneath its skin as the torrenting rain weighted down on the creature's fur, eliciting that wet dog smell that everyone knew, only about a thousand times worse.

But despite that, it did little to take away from the sheer primal nature of the beast. It was like staring at something straight out of mythology, a monstrous wolf that could devour gods.

A single figure rode on the creature's back, holding onto a pair of chains that wrapped around the titanic wolf's neck. It looked like the wolf could have snapped the chains with a soft twitch of its neck, but one tug by the figure was all the prompting the creature needed to let out an ear-splitting challenge.

Legend felt his very _bones_ quake as the wolf's maw opened wide enough to swallow a city bus with ease, white fangs glistening in the downpour. The howl it unleashed shattered glass and swept the unwary off their feet like ragdolls in a hurricane. A hot wind buffeted Leviathan as it picked itself up, glaring at the beast with baleful eyes. But whatever anger it could bringer to the fight paled in comparison to its opponent's.

The wolf howled as it charged forward, unrelenting in the face of the Continent Sinker.

A howl of primal, unquenchable fury.

The kind of anger that could make a god _bleed_.

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